Chapter XII: Blank Verse

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§ =160. The Beginnings of Modern English Poetry.= Puttenham, in his _Arte of English Poesie_, i. 31, speaks of Surrey and Wyatt as having originated the modern period of English poetry. This is true in so far as their poems are the first to show clearly--especially in metrical form--the influence of the spirit of the Renaissance, which had been making itself felt in English Literature for some time past. The new tendencies manifested themselves not only in the actual introduction of new rhythms and verse-forms borrowed from Classical and Italian poetry, but also in the endeavour to regulate and reform the native poetry according to the metrical laws and peculiarities of foreign models, especially of the ancient classics.

There were, indeed, several features of classical poetry which invited imitation, and the introduction of which produced the chief differences between Modern English and Middle English versification. These features are:

First, the quantitative character of the ancient rhythms as opposed to the accentual character of English verse. Secondly, the strict separation of rising and falling rhythms. In Middle English we have only the rising rhythm, which, however, sometimes becomes a falling one if the first thesis is wanting. Finally, the absence of rhyme in the poetry of the ancients, whereas in late Middle English poetry--apart from some North-English and Scottish productions written in the conservative, rhymeless form of the alliterative line--rhyme is all but universal.

§ =161.= The heroic couplet, the most popular and most important metre in later Middle English poetry, was, naturally, first of all influenced by the new classical movement.

It was the Earl of Surrey who, by dispensing with the rhyme, first transformed this metre into what is now known as Blank Verse. He adopted the unrhymed decasyllabic line as the most suitable vehicle for his translation of the second and fourth books of the _Aeneid_, written about 1540. In so doing, he enriched modern literature with a new form of verse which was destined to take a far more important place in English poetry than he can have foreseen for it. In its original function, as appropriate to the translation of ancient epic poetry, it has been employed by many late writers, e.g. by Cowper in his version of Homer; but this is only one, and the least considerable, of its many applications. Shortly after Surrey's time blank verse was used for court drama by Sackville and Norton in their tragedy of _Gorboduc_ (1561), and for popular drama by Marlowe in _Tamburlaine the Great_ (1587).

From the latter part of the sixteenth century onwards it has continued to be the prevailing metre for dramatic poetry, except for a short time, when its supremacy was disputed by the heroic couplet used by Lord Orrery, Davenant, Dryden, and others. Meanwhile blank verse had also become the metre of original epic poetry through Milton's use of it in his _Paradise Lost_; and in the eighteenth century it was applied to descriptive and reflective poetry by Thomson and Young.

It is uncertain whether Surrey invented it himself on the basis of his studies in classical rhymeless poetry, or whether he was influenced by the example of the Italian poet Trissino (1478-1550), who, in his epic _Italia liberata dai Goti_ and in his drama _Sofonisba_, introduced into Italian poetry the rhymeless, eleven-syllabled verses known as _versi sciolti_ (sc. _della rima_, i.e. freed from rhyme). There are at least no conclusive grounds for accepting the latter view, as there are some peculiarities in Surrey's blank verse which are not met with in Trissino, e.g. the occurrence of incomplete lines, which may have been introduced after the model of the unfinished lines found occasionally amongst Vergil's Latin hexameters.

Blank verse being in its origin only heroic verse without rhyme,[154] we may refer for its general rhythmical structure to what we have said on this metre. The rhythmical licences of this and the other iambic metres discussed in §§ 82-8 are common also to blank verse. But in addition to these, blank verse has several other deviations from the normal rhymed five-foot iambic verse, the emancipation from rhyme having had the effect of producing greater variability of metrical structure. It is for this reason it has been thought advisable to treat heroic verse and blank verse in separate chapters.

At first, it is true, the two metres are very similar in character, especially in Surrey; with the further and independent development of blank verse, however, they diverge more and more.

§ =162.= In conformity with Surrey's practice in his heroic verse, which, as we have seen, usually had masculine rhymes, his blank verse has also as a rule masculine endings, and is thus distinguished not only from Chaucer's heroic verse, which frequently had feminine endings, but from the blank verse of later poets like Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries.

As to the principal kinds of the caesura after the second and third foot there is no material difference between Surrey's blank verse and the heroic verse of the same period (cf. §§ 154, 157).

The Epic caesura occurs occasionally after the second foot, e.g.:

_Líke to the ádder | with vénomous hérbes féd._
p. 131;

but apparently not after the third, although it does not seem to have been avoided on principle, as we often find lyric caesuras in this place, and even after the fourth foot:

_His tále with ús | did púrchase crédit; || sóme
Trápt by decéit; | some fórced bý his téars._
p. 120.

The run-on line (or enjambement) is already pretty frequently used by Surrey (35 times in the first 250 lines), and this is one of the chief distinctions between blank verse and heroic verse. In most instances the use of run-on lines is deliberately adopted with a view to artistic effect. The same may be said of the frequent inversion of rhythm. On the other hand, it seldom happens that the flow of the metre is interrupted by level stress, missing thesis, or the use of a disyllabic thesis at the beginning or in the interior of the verse.[155]

As to the peculiarities of the word-stress and the metrical treatment of syllables in Surrey, the respective sections of the introductory remarks should be consulted. Apart then from the metrical licences, of which it admits in common with heroic verse, the most important peculiarities of Surrey's blank verse are the masculine endings, which are almost exclusively used, and the frequent use of run-on lines.

Cf. the opening lines of the fourth book of his _Aeneid_:

§ =163.= With regard to the further development of this metre in the drama of the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries we must restrict ourselves to a brief summary of its most important peculiarities, for details referring the reader to _Metrik_, ii, pp. 256-375; for bibliography see ib., pp. 259-60.

The employment of blank verse in the court drama hardly brought about any change in its structure. In _Gorboduc_, apart from a few instances in which a line is divided in the dialogue between two speakers (generally two and three feet) and the occasional (for the most part no doubt accidental) use of rhyme, the blank verse is exceedingly similar to that of Surrey, having masculine endings with hardly any exceptions.

This character was maintained by blank verse in all the other court plays of this time, only occasionally rhyming couplets are used at the end of a scene in Gascoigne's _Iocasta_, and prose passages now and then occur in Lyly's _The Woman in the Moon_.

The next and greatest step in the further development of the metre was its introduction into the popular drama by no less a poet than Marlowe in his drama _Tamburlaine the Great_ (1587). Marlowe's mastery over this metrical form was supreme. His skill is shown in his use of the inversion of accent, particularly the rhetorical inversion, to give variety to his rhythm, e.g.:

_Áh, sacred Máhomet, | thóu that hast seen
Míllions of Túrks | pérish by Támburláine._
Tam, ii, p. 213.

_But stíll the pórts were shút: | víllain, I sáy._
ib., p. 206.

_And hágs hówl for my déath | at Cháron's shóre._
Vol. ii. 255.

In his practice with regard to the caesura, the suppression of the anacrusis, and the use of disyllabic theses in the interior of the verse, he differs little from his predecessors. One distinctive feature of his verse is that he usually gives their full syllabic value to the Teutonic inflexional endings (_-ed_, _-est_), as well as to the Romanic noun- and adjective-suffixes; as _-iage_, _-iance_, _-ion_, _-eous_, _-ial_ &c. (cf. §§ 102-7).

By a frequent use of these endings as full syllables which is not always in conformity with the spoken language of his time, his verse obtains a certain dignity and pathos; cf. the following lines:

_Yét in my thóughts | shall Chríst be hónouréd._ Tamb. ii, p. 148.

_They sáy, | we áre a scáttered | nátión._ Jew of M. I, Sc. i.

_These métaphýsics | óf magíciáns._ Faust. I, Sc. ii.

Allied with this is the fact that Marlowe still has a great predilection for masculine endings, although feminine endings are also met with now and then, especially in his later plays. Run-on lines do not often occur, but many two- and three-foot lines as well as heroic couplets are found at the end of longer speeches, scenes, and acts.

The blank verse of Greene, Peele, Kyd, and Lodge has a similar structure to that of Marlowe, especially as regards the prevalence of masculine endings. The verse of Greene and Peele, however, is rather monotonous, because generally the caesura occurs after the second foot. On the other hand, the metre of Kyd and Lodge stands in this respect much nearer to that of Marlowe and in general shows greater variety.[156]

§ =164. The blank verse of Shakespeare=,[157] which is of great interest in itself, and moreover has been carefully examined during the last decades from different points of view, requires to be discussed somewhat more fully.

It is of the first importance to notice that Shakespeare's rhythms have different characteristic marks in each of the four periods of his career which are generally accepted.[158] For the determination of the dates of his plays the metrical peculiarities are often of great value in the absence of other evidence, or as confirming conclusions based on chronological indications of a different kind; but theories on the dates of the plays should not be built solely upon these metrical tests, as has been done, for instance, by Fleay. Such criticisms, generally speaking, have only a subordinate value, as, amongst others, F.J. Furnivall has shown in his treatise _The Succession of Shakespeare's works and the use of metrical tests in settling it_ (London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1877. 8º).

The differences in the treatment of the verse which are of greatest importance as distinctive of the several periods of Shakespeare's work are the following:

§ =165.= In the first place the numerical proportion of the rhymed and rhymeless lines in a play deserves attention. Blank verse, it is true, prevails in all Shakespeare's plays; but in his undoubtedly earlier plays we find a very large proportion of rhymed verse, while in the later plays the proportion becomes very small.

Some statistical examples, based on careful researches by English and German scholars, may be quoted to prove this; for the rest we refer to the special investigations themselves.

In _Love's Labour's Lost_, one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, we have 1028 rhymed lines and 579 unrhymed. In _The Tempest_, one of his last plays, we find 1458 unrhymed and only two rhymed five-foot lines. In the plays that lie between the dates of these two dramas the proportion of rhymed and unrhymed verse lies between these two numbers. In _Romeo and Juliet_, e.g. (which belongs to the end of Shakespeare's first period, though Fleay thought it a very early play) we have 2111 unrhymed and 486 rhymed five-foot lines; in _Hamlet_ (belonging to the third period) there are 2490 unrhymed and 81 rhymed lines.

In many cases, however, the use of rhyme in a play is connected with its whole tone and character, or with that of certain scenes in it. The frequency of rhymes in _Romeo and Juliet_ finds its explanation in the lyrical character of this play. For the same reason _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, although it is certainly later than _Love's Labour's Lost_ and _Romeo and Juliet_, shows a larger proportion of rhymed lines (878 blank: 731 rhymes). This seems sufficient to show that we cannot rely exclusively on the statistical proportion of rhymed and unrhymed verses in the different plays in order to determine their chronological order.

§ =166.= The numerical proportion of feminine and masculine endings is of similar value. In the early plays we find both masculine and feminine endings; the masculine, however, prevail. The number of feminine endings increases in the later plays. On this point Hertzberg has made accurate statistical researches. According to him the proportion of feminine to masculine endings is as follows:

_Love's Labour's Lost_ 4 per cent., _Romeo and Juliet_ 7 per cent., _Richard III_ 18 per cent., _Hamlet_ 25 per cent., _Henry VIII_ 45·6 per cent.[159] This proportion, however, as has been shown by later inquiries,[160] does not depend solely on the date of the composition, but also on the contents and the tone of the diction, lines with masculine endings prevailing in pathetic passages, and feminine endings in unemotional dialogue, but also in passionate scenes, in disputations, questions, &c.

§ =167.= The numerical proportion of what are called 'weak' and 'light' endings to the total number of verses in the different plays is similarly of importance. These are a separate subdivision of the masculine endings and are not to be confused with the feminine. They are formed by monosyllabic words, which are of subordinate importance in the syntactical structure of a sentence and therefore stand generally in thesis (sometimes even forming part of the feminine ending of a line), but which under the influence of the rhythm are used to carry the arsis. To the 'weak' endings belong the monosyllabic conjunctions and prepositions if used in this way: _and_, _as_, _at_, _but_ (_except_), _by_, _for_, _in_, _if_, _on_, _nor_, _than_, _that_, _to_, _with_; as e.g. in the three middle lines of the following passage taken from _Henry VIII_ (III. ii. 97-101):

_What thóugh I knów her vértuous
And wéll desérving? | Yét I knéw her fór
A spléeny Lútheran, | ánd not whólsome tó
Our cáuse, | that shé should lýe | i' th' bósom óf
Our hárd-rul'd kíng._

The 'light' endings include a number of other monosyllabic words, viz. articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, that are used by Shakespeare in a similar way.

These are, according to Ingram, _am_, _are_, _art_, _be_, _been_, _but_ (=_only_), _can_, _could_, _did_(2), _do_(2), _does_(2), _dost_(2), _ere_, _had_(2), _has_(2), _hast_(2), _have_(2), _he_, _how_(3), _I_, _into_, _is_, _like_, _may_, _might_, _shall_, _shalt_, _she_, _should_, _since_, _so_(4), _such_(4), _they_, _thou_, _though_, _through_, _till_, _upon_, _was_, _we_, _were_, _what_(3), _when_(3), _where_(3), _which_, _while_, _whilst_, _who_(3), _whom_(3), _why_(3), _will_, _would_, _yet_ (=_tamen_), _you_.

According to Ingram, the words marked (2) are to be regarded as light endings 'only when used as auxiliaries'; those marked (3), 'when not directly interrogative'; those marked (4), 'when followed immediately by _as_.' _Such_ belongs to this class, 'when followed by a substantive with an indefinite article, as _Such a man_.'

There are hardly any weak or light endings in the first and second periods of Shakespeare's work. In the third they occur now and then and become more frequent in the last period. So we have e.g. in _Antony and Cleopatra_ (1600) 3·53 per cent.; in _The Tempest_ (1610) 4·59 per cent.; in _Winter's Tale_ (1611) 5·48 per cent.

In the application of this test we must chiefly keep in mind that these two groups of words are only to be considered as 'weak' and 'light' endings when they form the last arsis of the line, as is the case in the lines quoted from _Henry VIII_; but they are to be looked upon as part of a disyllabic or feminine ending if they form a supernumerary thesis following upon the last arsis:

_Upón this groúnd; | and móre it woúld contént me._
Wint. II. i. 159.

§ =168.= Intimately connected with the quality of the line-endings is the proportion of unstopt or 'run-on' and 'end-stopt' lines, or the frequent or rare use the poet makes of enjambement. Like the feminine, weak, and light endings, this metrical peculiarity also occurs much more rarely in Shakespeare's earlier than in his later plays. According to Furnivall's statistics, e.g. in _Love's Labour's Lost_ one run-on line occurs in 18·14 lines; in _The Tempest_, on the other hand, we have one run-on line in 3·02 lines; in _Winter's Tale_ the proportion rises to one in 2·12.

As in the later plays run-on lines are often the result of the use of weak and light endings, we may perhaps assume with Hertzberg that at times the poet deliberately intended to give a greater regularity to the verse, if only by introducing the more customary masculine endings. From this point of view, then, both the weak and light endings and the run-on lines would have much less importance as metrical and chronological tests than they otherwise might have had.

§ =169.= But there is another peculiarity of Shakespeare's rhythms noticed by Hertzberg which is of greater value as a metrical test; viz. the use of the full syllabic forms of the suffixes _-est_, and especially of _-es_ or _-eth_ in the second and third pers. sing., as well as that of _-ed_ of the preterite and of the past participle. These tests are all the more trustworthy because they do not so much arise from a conscious choice on the part of the poet as from the historical development of the language. This is indicated by the fact that the slurring of these endings prevails more and more in the later plays.

According to Hertzberg's statistics the proportion of fully sounded and slurred _e_ is as follows:

1 _H. VI._ _T. Andr._ 1 _H. IV._ _H. VIII._

3 Pers. Sing. 15·58% 6·4% 2·25% 0%
Pret. and P.P. 20·9% 21·72% 15·41% 4·2%

It thus appears that in this respect also there is a decided progress from a more archaic and rigorous to a more modern usage.

These are the five chief distinctive marks of Shakespeare's verse in the different periods of his dramatic work. Besides these, Fleay has pointed out some other characteristics distinctive of the first period, namely, the more sparing use of Alexandrines, of shortened verses, and of prose, and the more frequent use of doggerel verses, stanzas, sonnets, and crossed rhymes.

§ =170.= There are, however, some other rhythmical characteristics that have not yet been sufficiently noticed by English or German scholars, probably because they cannot be so easily represented by means of statistics.

The caesura is of special importance. Although from the first Shakespeare always allowed himself a great degree of variety in the caesura, he prefers during his first and second period the masculine and lyrical caesura after the second foot; in his third period, in _Macbeth_ especially, both the masculine and lyrical caesura occur as frequently after the third foot, and side by side with these the epic caesura after the second and third foot pretty often (§ 90); during the fourth period a great many double caesuras occur corresponding to the numerous run-on lines.[161]

The old-fashioned disyllabic pronunciation of certain Romanic terminations (as _-ion_, _-ier_, _-iage_, _-ial_, &c.), so often met with in Marlowe, is not uncommon in Shakespeare, chiefly in his early plays, but also in those of later date (cf. § 107).

As to inversion of rhythm (cf. § 88), it is a noteworthy feature that during the first period it occurs chiefly in the first foot and afterwards often in the third also.

Disyllabic theses may be found in each of the five feet, sometimes even two at the same time:

_Having Gód, her cónscience, | ánd these bárs agaínst me._
R. III, I. ii. 235.

_Succéeding his fáther Bólingbróke, | did réign._
1 H. VI, II. v. 83.

_But thén we'll trý | what these dástard Frénchmen dáre._
1 H. VI, I. iii. 111.

_Thén is he móre behólding | to yóu than Í._
R. III, III. i. 107.

_Pút in their hánds | thy brúising írons of wráth._
R. III, V. iii. 110.

_My survéyor is fálse; | the ó'ergreat cárdinál._
H. VIII, I. i. 222.

Disyllabic or polysyllabic line-endings are likewise of frequent occurrence:

_I dáre avóuch it, sír, what, fífty fóllowers?_ Lear, II. iv. 240.

_To yóur own cónscience, sír, befóre Políxenes._ Wint. III. ii. 47.

Slurring and other modifications of words to make them fit into the rhythm are very numerous and of great variety in Shakespeare; we have referred to them before, §§ 108-11; here only some examples may be repeated, as _(a)bove_, _(be)cause_, _(ar)rested_, _th' other_, _th' earth_, _whe(th)er_, _ha(v)ing_, _e(v)il_, _eas(i)ly_, _barb(a)rous_, _inn(o)cent_, _acquit_ for _acquitted_, _deject_ for _dejected_, &c.

On the other hand, many lengthenings also occur, as _wrest(e)ler_ A. Y. L. II. ii, 13; _pilg(e)rim_ All's Well, III. v. 43, &c. (Cf. §§ 87, 112.)

In some monosyllabic words, as _fear_, _dear_, _hear_, _wear_, _tear_, _year_, it is not always necessary to assume with Abbott (§§ 480-6) a disyllabic pronunciation, e.g. _déàr_, _yéàr_. On the contrary, in many cases it is more probable that the emphasis laid on the monosyllable takes the place of the missing thesis, e.g.:

_The kíng would spéak with Córnwall: | the déar fáther._
Lear, II. iv. 102.

_Déar my lórd, | íf you in yóur own próof._ Ado, IV. i. 46.

Hor. _Whére my lórd? | Haml. In my mínd's éye, Horátio._
Ham. I. ii. 185.

The two last examples also show the absence of the first thesis, which often occurs in Shakespeare; frequently, as in these cases, it is compensated by an extra stress laid on the first accented syllable (cf. § 84); e.g.:

_Stáy! | the kíng has thrówn | his wárder dówn._
Rich. II, I. iii. 118.

_Upón your Gráce's part; | bláck and féarful._
All's Well, III. i. 4.

For the same reason a thesis is sometimes wanting in the interior of a line:

_Of góodly thóusands. | Bút, for áll thís._ Macb. IV. iii. 44;

or for phonetic reasons (cf. § 86):

_A thírd thínks, | withóut expénse at áll._ 1 Hen. VI, I. i. 76.

With respect to the word-stress and the metrical value of syllables there are in Shakespeare many archaic peculiarities. Some of those we have already dealt with; for the rest the reader must consult the works in which they are specially discussed.

§ =171.= Of great interest are the other metres that occur in combination with blank verse in Shakespeare's plays.

Alexandrines are frequently met with, especially where one line is divided between two speakers:

Macb. _I'll cóme to yóu anón._ | Murd. _We áre resólved, my lórd._
Macb. III. i. 139.

Macb. _Hów does your pátient, dóctor?_ | Doct. _Nót so síck, my lórd._
ib. V. iii. 37;

but also in many other cases:

_Hów dares thy hársh rude tóngue | sound thís unpléasing néws?_
R. II, III. iv. 74.

_And thése does shé applý | for wárnings, ánd porténts._
Caes. II. ii. 80.

Frequently, however, such apparent Alexandrines can easily be read as regular five-foot lines, for which they were certainly intended by the poet, by means of the ordinary metrical licences, as slurring, double theses, epic caesuras, or feminine endings[162]; e.g.:

_I had thóught, my lórd, | to have léarn'd his héalth of yóu._
R. II, II. iii. 24.

_I prómise you, | Í am afráid | to héar you téll it._
R. III, I. iv. 65.

_O'erbéars your ófficers; | the rábble cáll him lórd._
Haml. IV. v. 102.

Among the blank verse lines in Shakespeare's plays there are sometimes interspersed examples of the native four-beat long line. This occurs, apart from lyrical passages, most frequently in the early plays, e.g. in _Love's Labour's Lost_ and in _The Comedy of Errors_, III. i. 11-84, from which the following specimen is taken:

Ant. E. _I thínk thou art an áss._ |

Dro. E. _Marry, só it doth appéar
By the wróngs I súffer | and the blóws I béar.
I should kíck, being kíck'd; | and, béing at that páss,
You would kéep from my héels | and bewáre of an áss._

Ant. E. _You're sád, Signior Bálthasar: | pray Gód our chéer
May ánswer my good wíll | and your good wélcome hére._

Occasionally these verses exhibit a somewhat more extended structure, so that they might pass for Alexandrines; mostly, however, a line of this type is connected by rhyme with an unmistakable four-beat line; cf.

_If thóu hadst been, Drómio, | to dáy in my pláce,
Thou wouldst have changed thy fáce for a náme, | or thy náme
for an áss._
Com. of Err. III. i. 47.

For this reason the second line also is to be scanned somehow or other in conformity with the general four-beat rhythm of the passage; possibly we should assume an initial thesis of five syllables. In lyrical passages four-beat lines are often combined also with four-foot iambic verse of the freer type (cf. § 132); e.g. in the following passage from _Midsummer Night's Dream_, II. i. 2-7:

_Over híll, over dále, | thorough búsh, thorough bríer,
Over párk, over pále, | thorough flóod, thorough fíre,
I do wánder évery whére,
Swífter thán the móon's sphére;
Ánd I sérve the fáiry quéen,
To déw her órbs upón the gréen_, &c.

The two first lines belong to the first, the following to the latter species. Sometimes the rhythm of such rhymed four-foot verses is purely trochaic, e.g. in the witches' song in Macbeth, IV, sc. i.

There are also unrhymed iambic lines of four feet, which usually have a caesura in the middle; e.g.:

_The mátch is máde, | and áll is dóne._ Shrew, IV. iv. 46.

_Befóre the kíngs | and quéens of France._ Hen. VI, I. vi. 27.

Not unfrequently, however, such verses only apparently have four feet, one missing foot or part of it being supplied by a pause (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 164):

_He's tá'en_ ⏑–́ (_Shout_). || _And hark! | they shóut for jóy._
Caes. V. iii. 32.

Mal. _As thóu didst léave it._ –́ || Serg. _Dóubtful it stóod._
Macb. I. ii. 7.

_Thínk on lord Hástings._ –́ || _Despáir and díe!_
Rich. III, V. iii. 134.

Isolated two- and three-foot lines occur mostly at the beginning or at the end of a speech, or in pathetic passages of monologues; this usually causes a somewhat longer pause, such as is suitable to the state of feeling of the speaker.

Short exclamations as _Why_, _Fie_, _Alack_, _Farewell_ are often to be regarded as extra-metrical.

Prose also is often used for common speeches not requiring poetic diction.[163]

§ =172.= One passage from an early play of Shakespeare, and another, chosen from one of his last plays, will sufficiently exhibit the metrical differences between these periods of his work. (For other specimens cf. _Metrik_, ii, §166.)

Capulet. _But Móntagúe | is bóund as wéll as Í,
In pénaltý alíke; | and 'tis not hárd, I thínk,
For mén so óld as wé | to kéep the péace._

Paris. _Of hónouráble réckoning | áre you bóth;
And píty 'tís | you líved at ódds so lóng.
But nów, my lórd, | what sáy you tó my súit?_

Paris. _Yóunger than shé | are happy móthers máde._

Romeo and Juliet, I. ii. 1-19.

Prospero. _Bé collécted:
No móre amázement: | téll your píteous héart
There's nó harm dóne._ |

Miranda. _O wóe the dáy!_

Miranda. _Móre to knów
Did néver méddle wíth my thóughts._ | &c.

Tempest, I. ii. 1-22.

§ =173.= The further development of blank verse can be dealt with here only very briefly.

For the dramatic blank verse of Shakespeare's contemporaries and immediate successors see _Metrik_, vol. ii, §§ 167-78, and the works there enumerated. The reader may also be referred to various special treatises[164] of later date, which supply detailed evidence in the main confirming the correctness of the author's former observations.

In this place we mention only the characteristic peculiarities of the most important poets of that group.

=Ben Jonson's blank verse= is not so melodious as that of Shakespeare.

There is often a conflict between the logical and the rhythmical stress, as e.g.:

_Be éver cáll'd | the fóuntayne óf selfe-lóve._
Cynthia's Rev. I. ii.

Theses of two and even more syllables likewise occur in many verses, e.g.:

_Sir Péter Túb was his fáther, | a saltpétre mán._
Tale of a Tub, I. 22;

frequently also feminine or even disyllabic unaccented endings are used:

_The dífference 'twíxt | the cóvetous ánd the pródigal._
Staple of News, I. iii. 39.

These licences often give to his verse an uneven and rugged rhythm.

There are only slight differences from Shakespeare's usage with regard to the caesura, inversion of accent, &c. Run-on lines, as well as rhyme and the use of prose, are common in his plays; some of his comedies are almost entirely written in prose.

§ =174.= In =Fletcher=, on the contrary, run-on lines, rhymed verses, and prose are exceedingly rare.

Feminine and gliding endings, however (sometimes of three, and even of four supernumerary syllables), are often used; in some plays even more often than masculine ones. (For specimens cf. § 91.)

Feminine endings, combined with disyllabic or polysyllabic first thesis, are common; now and then we find epic caesuras or other theses in the interior of the line:

_They are too hígh a méat that wáy, | they rún to jelly._
Loyal Subj. I. i. 371.

_A cóach and four hórses | cánnot dráw me fróm it._
ib. III. ii. 361.

_Thís was hard fórtune; | but íf alíve and táken._
Hum. Lieut, I. i. 7.

_You máy surpríse them éasily; | they wéar no pístols._
Loyal Subj. I. ii. 314.

It deserves particular notice that in such feminine endings or epic caesuras, where the superfluous thesis consists of one monosyllabic word, this very often has something of a subordinate accent:

_And lét sóme létters | tó that énd be féign'd tòo._
Mad Lov. III. 268.

_That spírits háve no séxes, | I belíeve nòt._
ib. 272.

_You múst look wondrous sád tòo.-- | I néed not lóok sò._
ib. V. iii. 105.

The following passage from _The Maid's Tragedy_[165] shows the character of Fletcher's rhythms:

Mel. _Fórce my swoll'n héart no fúrther; | Í would sáve thee.
Your gréat maintáiners áre not hére, | they dáre not:
'Wóuld they were áll, and árm'd! | I wóuld speak lóud;
Here's óne should thúnder tó them! | will you téll me?
Thou hást no hópe to 'scápe; | Hé that dares móst,
And dámns awáy his sóul | to dó thee sérvice,
Wíll sóoner fetch méat | fróm a húngry líon,
Than cóme to réscue thée; | thou'st déath abóut thee.
Who hás undóne thine hónour, | póison'd thy vírtue,
Ánd, of a lóvely róse, | léft thee a cánker?_

Evadne. _Lét me consíder._ |

§ =175.= There are no plays extant written by =Beaumont= alone; plays, however, from Fletcher's pen alone do exist, and we can thus gain a clear insight into the distinctive features of his rhythm and style, and are so enabled to determine with some prospect of certainty the share which Beaumont had in the plays due to their joint-authorship. This has been attempted with some success by Fleay, and especially by Boyle.[166]

The characteristics of Beaumont's style and versification may be summed up as follows:

He often uses prose and verse, rhymed and unrhymed verses in the same speech; feminine endings occur rarely, but there are many run-on lines; occasionally we find 'light' and 'weak' endings; double theses at the beginning and in the interior of the line are met with only very seldom. His verse, therefore, is widely different from Fletcher's; cf. the following passage from _The Maid's Tragedy_ (II. i, pp. 24-5):

Evadne. _I thánk thee, Dúla; | 'wóuld, thou cóuld'st instíl
Sóme of thy mírth | intó Aspátiá!
Nóthing but sád thòughts | ín her bréast do dwéll:
Methínks, a méan betwíxt you | wóuld do wéll._

Dula. _Shé is in lóve: | Háng me, if Í were só,
But Í could rún my cóuntry. | Í love, tóo,
To dó those thíngs | that péople ín love dó._

§ =176.= Fewer peculiarities appear in the verse of =Massinger=, who (according to Fleay and Boyle) wrote many plays in partnership with Beaumont and Fletcher; for this reason his verse has been examined by those scholars in connexion with that of Beaumont and Fletcher. Like Fletcher, Massinger uses a great many feminine endings; but he has many run-on lines as well as 'light' and 'weak' endings. In contradistinction to Beaumont's practice, he seldom uses prose and rhyme, but he has a great many double endings. His verse is very melodious, similar on the whole to that of Shakespeare's middle period.

The following passage may serve as an example:

Tib. _It ís the dúchess' bírthday, | ónce a yéar
Solémnized wíth all pómp | and céremóny;
In whích the dúke is nót his ówn, | but hérs:
Nay, évery dáy, indéed, | he ís her créature,
For néver mán so dóated;-- | bút to téll
The ténth part óf his fóndness | to a stránger,
Would árgue mé of fíction._ | Steph. _Shé's, indéed,
A lády óf most éxquisite fórm._ | Tib. _She knóws it,
And hów to príze it._ | Steph. _I néver héard her tainted
In ány póint of hónour._ | Tib. _Ón my lífe,
She's cónstant tó his béd, | and wéll desérves
His lárgest fávours. | Bút, when béauty is
Stámp'd on great wómen, | gréat in bírth and fórtune,
And blówn by flátterers | gréater thán it ís,
'Tis séldom únaccómpaníed | with príde;
Nor ís she thát way frée: | presúming ón
The dúke's afféction, | ánd her ówn desért,
She béars hersélf | with súch a májestý,
Lóoking with scórn on áll | as thíngs benéath her,
That Sfórza's móther, | thát would lóse no párt
Of whát was ónce her ówn, | nor hís fair síster,
A lády tóo | acquáinted wíth her wórth,
Will bróok it wéll; | and hówsoé'er their háte
Is smóther'd fór a tíme, | 'tis móre than féar'd
It wíll at léngth break óut._ | Steph. _Hé in whose pówer it ís,
Turn áll to the bést._ | Tib. _Come, lét us tó the cóurt;
We thére shall sée all bráverý and cóst,
That árt can bóast of._ | Steph. _I'll béar you cómpaný._

Massinger, Duke of Milan, I. i. end.

The versification of the other dramatists of this time cannot be discussed in this place. It must suffice to say that the more defined and artistic blank verse, introduced by Marlowe and Shakespeare, was cultivated by Beaumont, Massinger, Chapman, Dekker, Ford, &c.; a less artistic verse, on the other hand, so irregular as sometimes to approximate to prose, is found in Ben Jonson and Fletcher, and to a less degree in Middleton, Marston, and Shirley. (Cf. _Metrik_, ii. §§ 171-8.)

§ =177. The blank verse of Milton=, who was the first since Surrey to use it for epic poetry, is of greater importance than that of the minor dramatists, and is itself of particular interest. Milton's verse, it is true, cannot be said to be always very melodious. On the contrary, it sometimes can be brought into conformity with the regular scheme of the five-foot verse only by level stress and by assigning full value to syllables that in ordinary pronunciation are slurred or elided (see § 83).

Generally, however, Milton's blank verse has a stately rhythmical structure all its own, due to his masterly employment of the whole range of metrical artifices. In the first place, he frequently employs inversion of accent, both at the beginning of a line and after a caesura; sometimes together with double thesis in the interior of the line, as e.g.:

_Báck to the gátes of Héaven; | the súlphurous háil._
Par. Lost, I. 171.

Quite peculiar, however, to Milton's blank verse is the extensive use he makes of run-on lines, and in connexion with the great variety in his treatment of the caesura.

Milton has more than 50 per cent. run-on lines; sometimes we have from three to six lines in succession that are not stopt.

As to the caesura, we mostly have masculine and lyric caesura (more seldom epic caesuras) after the second or third foot; besides, we have frequent double caesuras (generally caused by run-on lines), about 12 per cent.[167]

Finally, as the third peculiarity of Milton's epic blank verse, the almost exclusive use of masculine endings deserves mention. The number of feminine endings in the various books of _Paradise Lost_ and of _Paradise Regained_ is only from 1 to 5 per cent.; in _Samson Agonistes_, on the other hand, we have about 16 per cent., nearly as many as in the plays of Shakespeare's second period.[168]

The following example (_Paradise Lost_, V. 1-25) may illustrate Milton's blank verse:

§ =178. The dramatic blank verse of the Restoration= is strongly influenced by the heroic verse of the same period, and is on this account very different from the blank verse of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

For this period the blank verse of Dryden is most interesting; he uses it with great skill, but also with great restriction of its former licences.

Even the number of the inversions of accent decreases considerably and is only about 12 per cent. We find scarcely any examples of double thesis, slurring of syllables, missing theses in the beginning or in the interior of the line, &c.

The caesura, which is the chief means by which variety is imparted to the metre, is generally masculine or lyric, and as a rule occurs after the second or third foot; occasionally we have double caesuras. Epic caesuras are rare, if they occur at all. Feminine endings are frequent, their proportion being about 25 to 28 per cent. Light and weak endings are rarely to be found amongst the masculine endings, nor are run-on lines (about 20 per cent.) frequently used by Dryden.

Most of the characteristic features of his blank verse will be found exemplified in the following extract:

Emperor. _Márry'd! | I'll nót belíeve it; || 'tís impósture;
Impróbable | they shóu'd presúme t'attémpt,
Impóssible | they shóu'd efféct their wísh._

Benducar. _Have pátience tíll I cléar it._ |

Emperor. _Í have nóne:
Go bíd our móving Pláins of Sánd | lie stíll,
And stír not, | whén the stórmy Sóuth blows hígh:
From tóp to bóttom | thóu hast tóss'd my Sóul,
And nów 'tis ín the mádness | of the Whírl.
Requír'st a súdden stóp? | unsáy thy lýe,
That máy in týme do sómewhat._ |

Benducar. _Í have dóne.
For, sínce it pléases yóu | it shóu'd be fórg'd
'Tis fít it shóu'd: | Fár be it fróm your Sláve,
To ráise distúrbance | ín your Sácred Bréast._

Emperor. _Sebástian ís my Sláve | as wéll as thóu;
Nor dúrst offénd my Lóve, | but thát Presúmption ..._

Benducar. _Most súre he óught not._ |

Dryden, Sebastian, III.

The blank verse of Lee, Otway, N. Rowe, and Addison[169] is of similar structure.

§ =179.= Blank verse was treated even more strictly by =Thomson= in _The Seasons_. Thomson followed Dryden with regard to his treatment of the caesura and the inversion of accent, but made no use at all of feminine endings. Cf. the following passage from _Summer_:

_From bríghtening fíelds of éther | fáir disclós'd,
Chíld of the sún, | refúlgent Súmmer cómes,
In pride of yóuth, | and félt through náture's dépth:
He cómes atténded | bý the súltry hóurs,
And éver-fánning bréezes, | ón his wáy;
Whíle, from his árdent lóok, | the túrning Spríng
Avérts her blúshful fáce; | and éarth, and skíes
All smíling, | to his hót domínion léaves.
Hénce let me háste | intó the míd-wood sháde,
Where scárce a sún-beam | wánders through the glóom;
And ón the dárk-green gráss, | besíde the brínk
Of háunted stréam, | that bý the róots of óak
Rólls o'er the rócky chánnel,| líe at lárge,
And síng the glóries | óf the círcling yéar._

The blank verse of Young (_Night Thoughts_), Cowper (_The Task_), and other less important poets of the eighteenth century is of a similar uniform structure; cf. _Metrik_, ii, §193.

§ =180.= In the =blank verse of the nineteenth century= we find both tendencies, the strict and the free treatment of this verse-form; according to their predominant employment in epic and dramatic poetry respectively, we may call them the epic and the dramatic form of the verse. They may be chiefly distinguished by the peculiarities to be observed in the blank verse of Milton and Thomson on the one hand, and of Dryden on the other; i.e. by the admission or exclusion of feminine endings.

The strict form of the epic blank verse, with masculine endings, is preferred in the narrative or reflective poems of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Shelley, Keats, W.S. Landor, Longfellow, D. G. Rossetti, Mrs. Browning, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, Tennyson, Swinburne, and Edwin Arnold.[170]

The free form is represented, mainly, in the dramatic verse of the same and other poets, being used by Coleridge (in his translation of _The Piccolomini_), Wordsworth, Southey, Lamb, Byron, Shelley, W.S. Landor, Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, and others.[171]

NOTES:

[153] For the accentuation of the word cf. _inter alia_ rhymes such
as _mérie: Cáunterbúry_, Prol. 801-2, and Schipper, l.c., pp.
217-18.

[154] This definition is also given by Milton in his introductory
note on 'The Verse' prefixed in 1668 to _Paradise Lost_.

[155] Cf. _Metrik_, ii. §§ 132-5.

[156] Cf. _Metrik_, ii. §§ 136-46.

[157] Cf. on this subject the essays and treatises by T. Mommsen,
Abbott, Furnivall, Ingram, Hertzberg, Fleay, A.J. Ellis (_On
Early English Pronunciation_, iii), &c. (quoted _Metrik_, ii,
p. 259); besides G. König, _Der Vers in Shakspere's Dramen_,
Strassburg, Trübner, 1888, 8º (_Quellen und Forschungen_,
61); _Der Couplet-Reim in Shakspere's Dramen_ (Dissertation),
von J. Heuser, Marburg, 1893, 8; H. Krumm, _Die Verwendung des
Reims in dem Blankverse des englischen Dramas zur Zeit
Shaksperes_, Kiel, 1889; H. Conrad, _Metrische Untersuchungen
zur Feststellung der Abfassungszeit von Shakspere's Dramen_
(_Shakespeare-Jahrbuch_, xxx. 318-353); _William Shakespeare,
Prosody and Text_, by B. A. P. van Dam and C. Stoffel, Leyden,
1900, 8º; _Chapters on English Printing Prosody, and
Pronunciation_ (1550-1700), by B.A.P. van Dam and C. Stoffel,
Heidelberg, 1902 (_Anglistische Forschungen_, ix).

[158] I. 1587-1592; II. 1593-1600; III. 1600-1606; IV. 1606-1613;
according to Dowden.

[159] Cf. Furnivall, p. xxviii.

[160] Cf. Mayor, _Chapters on English Metre_, pp. 174-7.

[161] Cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 154.

[162] Cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 161.

[163] Cf. N. Delius, _Die Prosa in Shakespeares Dramen_ (Jahrbuch d.
deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, v. 227-73).

[164] Cf. the Halle dissertations by _Hannemann_ (on Ford, Oxford,
1889); _Penner_ (on Peele, Braunschweig, 1890); _Knaut_ (on
Greene, 1890); _Schulz_ (on Middleton, 1892); _Elste_ (on
Chapman, 1892); _Kupka_ (on Th. Dekker, 1893); _Meiners_ (on
Webster, 1893); _Clages_ (on Thomson and Young, 1892); and the
criticism of some of them by Boyle, _Engl. Studien_, xix.
274-9.

[165] IV. i, p. 66, cf. _Engl. Studien_, v, p. 76.

[166] _Engl. Studien_, iv-vii.

[167] On the many combinations of the three kinds of caesura in the
different places of the verse, cf. _Metrik_, ii, pp. 28-31.

[168] Cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 179-185. |

[169] See _Englische Metrik_, ii, §§ 188-90.

[170] Cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 195-201.

[171] Cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 202-6.

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A History of English VersificationChapter XII: Blank Verse

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